Device for inserting/extracting a disk cartridge with locking mechanism

ABSTRACT

A device for inserting and extracting a disk cartridge for use in a disk player, includes a locking member slidably installed on a cartridge holder for performing a locking/release function; a locking release member one end of which is rotatably installed on the deck having a center of rotation above that of the cartridge holder, so that the other end is interlocked with the cartridge holder to release a locking state of the locking member; and an extracting member being rotatably installed on the cartridge holder and having one end locked by the locking member. A lift on the extracting member lifts the locking release member. A cartridge is inserted or withdrawn from the cartridge holder when the cartridge holder and the locking release member are pivoted upward away from the deck of the player. No motor is used for insertion and withdrawal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for inserting and extracting adisk cartridge for a recording/playback disk player.

The development of magnetooptical disk cartridges of a 64 mm diameter(commercially referred to as "minidisks") has been under way since theminidisk was first introduced (by Sony of Japan). Portable players, forrecording and playing back information on minidisks, are currentlycommercially available (Sony model MZ-1). The commercially availableplayer has a slot into which a minidisk is inserted. A minidiskcartridge is loaded onto the deck by the driving force of a motor, withthe shutter of the cartridge being moved aside to open a communicatingaperture, and is mounted on a turntable rotated by a spindle motor.

In general, it is desirable that a portable player be as light and smallas possible, allow the rapid insertion/extraction of a disk cartridge,and have a very low rate of power consumption. However, due to thespecific construction of the insertion means, i.e., via a slot, the Sonyminidisk player has a complicated structure for insertion/extraction ofthe cartridge. Further, due to limitations determined by a motor, it isdifficult to miniaturize and reduce the weight of the player and tospeed up the inserting and extracting operations thereof. That is, amotorized apparatus is used to insert and/or draw out the minidisk,which thereby increases the player's overall power consumption.Accordingly, battery power is not efficiently utilized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide in a diskplayer, a device for inserting and withdrawing a disk cartridge, whereinthe insertion and withdrawal of the disk cartridge are performed withoutthe use of a motor and with a reduced number of components. Byeliminating the motor, the disk cartridge may be rapidly inserted orwithdrawn, the power consumption is reduced, and lower production costsresult.

To accomplish the object of the present invention, there is provided ina disk player, a device for inserting and extracting a disk cartridge,comprising: a cartridge holder, one end of which is hinged on a deck soas to rotate; locking means slidably installed on the cartridge holderfor performing a locking/release function; locking release means, oneend of which is rotatably installed on the deck having a center ofrotation above that of the cartridge holder, so that the other end isinterlocked with the cartridge holder to release a locking state of thelocking means; and extracting means being rotatably installed on thecartridge holder and having one end locked by the locking means, aportion for raising the locking releasing means, and the other end forextracting an inserted disk cartridge when released by the lockingrelease means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above object and advantages of the present invention will becomemore apparent from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a device for inserting and extracting adisk cartridge according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the device of FIG. 1 in the state whereby adisk cartridge is being pushed out of or inserted into the device;

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the device of FIG. 1 in the statewherein the disk holder is raised from the deck and a disk cartridge isonly partially inserted or partially withdrawn; and

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the device of FIG. 1 in the statewherein the disk holder is raised from the deck and a disk cartridge isfully inserted within the cartridge holder.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a cartridge holder 3 into which a diskcartridge 2 may be inserted, is hinged on deck 1 at the rear of thecartridge holder 3 to permit pivoting about the hinged part. A lockingmember 5 having a stop 6 on one side thereof is installed on cartridgeholder 3 to enable it to move rectilinearly via a guiding device 9. Thelocking member 5 is elastically biased toward the insertion direction ofthe disk cartridge by a first spring 7. The guiding device 9 consists ofa guide pin 8 placed on cartridge holder 3 and an elongated guide hole51 formed in locking member 5 for allowing the guide pin 8 to beslidably connected to locking member 5. Stop 6 provided on lockingmember 5 is formed as a sloped surface to facilitate the locking ofprojection 14 of an extracting member 12.

A locking release member 10 is installed to have a center of rotation orhinge center directly above the hinge center of the cartridge holder 3and parallel therewith, such that one end of the locking release member10 is rotatable about its hinge center. A second spring 11, placed atthe center of rotation of the locking member 10, elastically biases thelocking release member toward cartridge holder 3.

Extracting member 12 is hinged on cartridge holder 3 to permit rotationthereof in a plane parallel to the surface of the cartridge holder 3.The extracting member 12 is biased to rotate in the clockwise direction(the extracting direction for a disk cartridge 2) by a third spring 13anchored between extracting member 12 and cartridge holder 3.

Extracting member 12 includes a projection 14, which abuts the stop 6 oflocking member 5 when the locking member 5 is in the position shown inFIGS. 1-3, whereby the stop 6 prevents rotation of the extracting member12 in the clockwise direction. The extracting member 12 also includes alift 15 having a slope 17 for raising locking release member 10 andseparating it from locking member 5 when disk cartridge 2 is to be drawnout. An extracting piece 16 located at the rear of the extracting member12 is bent downward and moves within a guide recess 31 of the cartridgeholder. When the stop 6 no longer stops the projection 14 of extractionmember 12, the extraction member 12 rotates clockwise (as seen fromabove in FIGS. 1-3) to push the disk cartridge 2 out of the cartridgeholder 3, thereby permitting the disk cartridge to be completelywithdrawn from the cartridge holder.

The device for inserting and extracting a disk cartridge for a diskplayer of the present invention operates in accordance with thefollowing description.

First, FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the condition where the cartridge holder3 has a disk cartridge 2 fully inserted therein and is in the downposition (i.e., not pivoted up as in FIGS. 5 and 6) on deck 1. Theprojection 14 of extracting member 12 abuts against the stop 6 oflocking member 5. In this state, the non hinged end of locking releasemember 10 is in contact with extracting member 12 and pushes against alocking release piece 52. The position of locking release member 10 isheld by second spring 11. Also, the fact that locking release member 10has a pivot point directly above the pivot point of cartridge holder 3results in member 10 and holder 3 having different rotation loci. Thedifference between the rotation locus "a" of the cartridge holder 3 andthe rotation locus "b" of locking release member 10 also causes the endof locking release member 10 to push against locking release piece 52,when the device is in the state shown in FIGS. 1-3. When the cartridge 2is loaded into the holder 3 and the holder 3 is in the position shown,loading is complete and a playback operation can be performed.

To place the cartridge holder 3 in a position for insertion orwithdrawal of a disk cartridge, the cartridge holder 3 and the lockingrelease member 10 are rotated upward about their respective hinges tothe positions shown in FIG. 5. Since the center of rotation of thecartridge holder 3 is directly below that of the locking release member10, as the two rotate upward, the end of locking release member 10pushes locking member 5 in the "A" direction. This is the result of thedifferences between rotation locus "a" of cartridge holder 3 androtation locus "b" of locking release member 10. When locking member 5is pushed sufficiently in the direction A, the stop member moves awayfrom the position where it stops or locks the projection 14 on theextracting member 12. As shown in FIG. 4, the extracting member nowbecomes free to rotate counterclockwise in the direction of arrow B. Asextracting member 12 rotates in the "B" direction due to the resilientforce of the third spring 13, the extracting piece 16 of extractingmember 12 pushes the disk cartridge 2 partly out of the cartridge holder3.

Also, when extracting member 12 rotates in the direction B, the lockingrelease member 10 is raised upward from contact with locking releasepiece 52 by the action of the slope 17 of lift 15. As a result, thelocking member 5 is free to slide in the direction opposite to directionA under the force of the first spring 7.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, which illustrate the state in whichcartridge holder 3 is raised above the deck, when a disk cartridge 2 isfully inserted into cartridge holder 3, the insertion end of thecartridge pushes the extracting piece 16 to cause the extracting member12 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction (the direction oppositethat of direction "B"). Then, projection 14 of extracting member 12slides on the slope of stop 6 and pushes the locking member back in thedirection A. The projection 14 moves along the slope of stop 6 until itpasses the end thereof, at which time it becomes locked once again bythe stop 6 from rotating clockwise. Also, as the projection 14 and theextracting member 12 are rotating counter clockwise under the pressurefrom the inserted cartridge, the lift 15 moves away from contact withthe locking release member 10. When the latter occurs, the force ofsecond spring 11 brings locking release member 10 down so that the frontof locking release member 10 contacts the locking release piece 52 asshown in FIG. 6. As can be seen, at this time the locking release member10 contacts the top rather than the front of the locking release piece52.

When cartridge holder 3 is lowered after the disk cartridge has beenfully inserted, the relation of the locking release member 10 and thelocking release piece 52 changes from that in FIG. 6, where the member10 sits on top of piece 52, to that of FIG. 3, where the member 10 abutsthe front of piece 52. This change is due to the difference between theaforementioned rotation loci ("a" and "b") of the locking release member10 and the cartridge holder 3 (specifically the locus of the piece 52 onthe cartridge holder 3).

The movement of the cartridge holder from the "play" position of FIG. 1to the insertion/withdrawal position of FIGS. 5 and 6 is accomplishedmanually in the preferred embodiment. As the cartridge holder is rotated(or pivoted) through manual force, the locking member 5, the lockingrelease member 10, and the extraction member 12 operated automaticallyas described above.

As described above, the device for inserting and extracting a diskcartridge for a disk player of the present invention performs insertionand withdrawal of a disk cartridge without a motor. Instead theinsertion/withdrawal device uses the engagement of a locking member, alocking release member and an extracting member. Therefore, as comparedwith the conventional apparatus using power transmission members such asa motor and gears, the present invention reduces the number ofcomponents, thereby simplifying the structure and the assemblingprocess. This reduces production costs and results in a device whichenables more rapid insertion and withdrawal of a disk cartridge.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for inserting and extracting a diskcartridge for use in a disk player having a deck; said devicecomprising:a cartridge holder pivotally attached at one end thereof tosaid deck to enable rotation of said cartridge holder between a downposition for playing disks in said cartridge and an up position forinsertion and withdrawal of the disk cartridge into and from saidcartridge holder; an extracting member rotatably installed on saidcartridge holder; said extracting member having an extracting piece atone end thereof; said extracting piece being positioned to push aninserted cartridge outwardly with respect to said cartridge holder assaid extracting member rotates in a first direction; a locking memberslidably installed on said cartridge holder to slide rectilinearlybetween a first position which holds said extracting member in a lockedposition stopping rotation of said extracting member in said firstdirection, and a second position which does not hold said extractingmember in a locked position; and a locking release member pivotallyinstalled at one end thereof on said deck for movement between a downposition and an up position and having a center of rotation above thatof said cartridge holder such that said locking release member and saidcartridge holder have different rotation loci; a part of said lockingrelease member at an opposite end thereof engaging said locking member,wherein when said locking release member and said cartridge holder arerotated upward away from said deck and due to the different rotationloci of said locking release member and said cartridge holder, the endof said locking release member engaging said locking member forces saidlocking member to slide towards said second position and release saidextracting member from the locked position, permitting said extractingmember to rotate in said first direction; a first biasing member forbiasing said locking member towards said first position; a secondbiasing member for biasing said locking release member towards the downposition; and a third biasing member for biasing said extracting membertowards rotation in said first direction.
 2. A device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said first biasing member comprises:a first springinstalled between said locking member and cartridge holder forelastically biasing said locking member in the inserting direction ofsaid disk cartridge; and wherein said locking member further comprises:a slide plate provided on said deck and slidable between said first andsecond positions; a stop member on one end of said slide plate; saidstop member stopping the movement of said extracting member when theslide member is in said first position; a locking release piece at saidone end of said slide plate; said locking release piece coming intocontact with said part of said locking release member; whereby when saidcartridge holder and said locking release member are rotated upward awayfrom said deck, said part pushes on said locking release piece againstthe force of said first spring to push said slide plate towards saidsecond position to move said stop member away from the position where itstops movement of said extracting member.
 3. A device as claimed inclaim 2, wherein said second biasing member comprises:a second springhaving one end connected to said locking release member and the otherend connected to one of said cartridge holder and deck for elasticallybiasing said locking release member in the direction of said cartridgeholder.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said extractingmember further includes:a projection formed on an end of said extractingmember opposite the end where said extracting piece is formed; saidprojection abutting and being locked by said stop member when saidextracting member is fully rotated in a direction opposite to said firstdirection and said slide plate is in said first position; a lift memberformed on said extracting member for pivoting said locking releasemember upwards when said extracting member rotates in said firstdirection under the force of said third biasing member.
 5. A device asclaimed in claim 4, wherein said third biasing member comprises:a thirdspring connected at one end to said extracting member and at the otherend to said cartridge holder for biasing said extracting member torotate in said first direction.
 6. A device as claimed in claim 5,wherein said extracting piece is a bent piece at one end of saidextracting member and moves between a first position at the back of saidcartridge holder, when said extracting member is locked by said lockingmember, and a second position substantially into said cartridge holder,when said extracting member has rotated in said first direction.
 7. Adevice as claimed in claim 6, wherein said stop member has a slantedsurface, whereby when said extracting piece is pushed to the back ofsaid cartridge holder by insertion of a cartridge therein, the force ofsaid pushing also pushes said projection against said slanted surface ofsaid stop member to force said slide plate to move toward said secondposition, allowing said extracting member to rotate fully in thedirection opposite said first direction, and wherein said projectionpasses said slanted surface, allowing said first spring to force saidslide plate back to said first position thereby locking said extractingmember by the engagement of said projection and said stop member.